India, Pakistan would be united today if not for attitude of Nehru: Dalai Lama

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09 Aug 2018No comment6 hits

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09 Thu 2018

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PANAJI: Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said here on Wednesday that India and Pakistan would have remained united as a nation today if not for the “self-centred attitude” of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

The Dalai Lama said Nehru was adamant on the prime minister’s post for himself, during the time of Independence.

“When you look back in India, I think Mahatma Gandhiji was very much willing to give prime ministership to (Muhammad Ali) Jinnah, but Pandit Nehru refused. I think Nehru had a little bit of selfcentred attitude. ‘I should be the prime minister’,” he said.

Analyse, analyse, then decide, says spiritual head

He said, “Mahatma Gandhiji’s thinking, if materialised, then India and Pakistan would have remained united.”

The Dalai Lama was responding to questions from Goa Institute of Management students and his answer came to a query from one of the students who wanted to know how one can avoid taking wrong decisions keeping emotions out of the decision-making process.

“I knew Nehru very well personally and he was a very well-experienced person otherwise. But sometimes mistakes also happen. So, ultimately responsibility is on your own shoulders. Analyse, analyse. Then take decision,” the Dalai Lama told the students with Nehru’s example.

Nehru was the prime minister when the Dalai Lama escaped from Tibet in 1959 and given asylum in India. Hundreds of Tibetans then followed him and have been fighting in exile for greater sovereignty for Tibet from China.

The Dalai Lama also said that unlike the modern democratic system, it was a feudal mindset in the past. “Then, the power of decision was in the hands of a few people, which was more dangerous,” the Dalai Lama said.

He said now a time has come when Europeans are facing some emotional crisis. “Therefore thousand-year-old India’s tradition about knowledge of mind should be reintroduced in this country.”

“India is such a populous country and a democratic one and living in religious harmony. The time has come to show the rest of the world that religious harmony is possible,” the Dalai Lama said.

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